The forecaster said it expects UK gross domestic product (GDP) growth to slow from around 0.8% this year to around zero in 2012, with a significant chance of a technical recession.

The firm is predicting two successive quarters of negative growth next year.

Chief European economist Jonathan Loynes said the adverse impact of the crisis on UK exports to the eurozone could knock over one percentage point off UK GDP growth.

That, coupled with high unemployment levels, downward pressure on consumer incomes and the government’s fiscal squeeze, make it difficult to envisage the UK economy managing even modest growth over the coming quarters, Loynes added.

“Within that picture, there is a high chance of a technical recession in the form of two consecutive quarters of falling GDP,” he said.

The economist added he expects GDP to broadly stagnate over the next year and a half before staging a form of recovery in 2013 as lower inflation restores some spending power.